Traction power systems are susceptible to service affecting electrical faults or disturbances. These may cause interruptions of the power supply to the trains, affecting systems operations and causing major delays. Therefore, accuracy in fault reporting and fault location is vital in the decision-making processes that will result in shorter outage periods.The evaluation and analysis of traction power protection systems has become vital to improve the system reliability and reduce outages and related costs. Line impedance measurements form an integral part of fault analysis and distance location due to the use of impedance relays in protection systems. This paper shows the importance of conducting impedance measurements in order to improve the accuracy of distance protection relays. In this paper, impedance measurements were conducted and the measured results were compared with the theoretical values. The feeder to earth, catenary to earth and feeder to catenary impedance measurements were conducted and used in the impedance calculations and analysis. The earth resistances for all line sections were also measured. Furthermore, the line impedance measurements were used for the calculation of the compensation for the earth return factor with specific application in protection settings optimisation for a traction power system. This has helped to improve the accuracy of the protection parameters. The protection settings parameters were revised as a result.
A typical 2×25 kV traction power supply system consists of both primary and secondary equipment housed in control rooms, and the traction overhead wiring (OHW) that runs between the substations. Substation secondary equipment consists of the protection and control intelligence electronic devices (IEDs) known as relays. Each section of the OHW between the substations is protected by a set of two relays at both ends of a line for impedance protection and their backup relays. At substations facing the sections at the end of line where there is no other substation on the other end, usually overcurrent and earth fault protection is used. At the substations, there are disturbance fault recorders installed or relays equipped with a capability to record and store disturbance fault records (DFRs). Analysis of these fault records makes a significant contribution in the efficient running of a traction system of the Gautrain. A combination of analysis of the faults that occur in the OHW as recorded and stored in the relays, as well as the performance of the IEDs and the protection settings using on-site tests are a subject of this paper.
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